Smeagol's Christmas
by bastet1999
Summary: My very first ever fanfiction. Smeagol's christmas. takes place long after the ring and Frodo's leaving the shire. Features Sam and Rosie and the family.


Title: Smeagol's Christmas Author: Tella ) Rating: G Disclaimer: All characers are copyright the Tolkein estate. No infringement is intended. No profit to be gained. Drat!

Author's Notes: Written for my Christmas fanfic challenge Many thanks to Marta who kindly beta-read for me and caught all my bone- headed mistakes (of which there were many) Hopefully I didn't mess up the middle part too much, but it wasn't enough to justify harrassing you with it!!

Smeagol's Christmas Gollum, or Smeagol as he was now lay sprawled across a big rock looking towards the river. The weather was beginning to get cold, and Smeagol was feeling a bit blue. He hadn't been his old happy self for quite a while now. Something was missing in his life and he wasn't sure exactly what it was. Perhaps a lingering affect form the destruction of the ring, it had begun to fade from everyones memories, for the time was so long ago now.

Smeagol thought back on his life. He had lived many hundreds of years, but many of those years were but a blur. He could no longer truly remember the road to his own undoing, merely bits of memory scattered with falsity that he had known for so long they had become truth. He vaquely remembered his life as a River dweller, his home and his family. His friends..did he have friends? Sometimes he couldn't see their faces anymore. He was getting very old. He remembered fond holidays and many gifts. Long before things had changed, and the others began to fear him. Began to distrust him. He never did understand the reasons why. These memories brought a tang of loneliness to Smeagol. It had been rare that he had ever felt lonely, alone, but now, he felt it all the time. An emptyness within himself.

"sigh" The river was moving slower, the leaves were floating on the surface and wisps of breath could be seen with every exhale. Smeagol was very sad indeed. A soft wind that had been blowing over the lands began to turn into a gale, and suddenly the fluffyness of winter began to fall. Smeagol let out another long sigh and crawled off of his rock and into a nearby cavern on the river's edge. There, he curled up into a little ball and watched the snow fall. He really hated the snow. There wern't many fish to be caught when the river froze over, and there was no Hobbit activity when it was cold. For the only excitement Smeagol had anymore was watching the hobbits in the shire just down the river from him, and perhaps stealing the occasional baked product from a windowsill.

Smeagol hated winter. The wind picked up briefly, and the air smelled crisp. Smeagol began to remember things from many years past...the crackle of the fireplace the smell of food cooking on the fire. The warmth of a blanket, the sound of laughter and the feeling of contentment. All things he had not experienced in so long that he had forgotten what they were. He dreamed of a life that existed no more. Of family that he had lost, not to death but rather to hatred and dislike. A dislike that had formed shortly before the curse of the ring, for Smeagol had begun to grow different from the rest, and to be different in the society of the River Folk meant isolation. Smeagol woke with a start. He hadn't realized he had fallen a sleep, but he had been dreaming. Wonderful, happy dreams of years past. Faded memories that were no more. Smeagol blinked a couple of times to try and focus his eyes; he had never gotten fully used to bright lights and with the fresh fallen snow on the ground it was even worse.

Squinting, he peeked out to the side of his hidey hole to see what had disturbed his rest...and there he saw the hobbits. "sigh". He had grown rather used to them being around constantly, even found their company comforting, but rarely did they ever wander this close to his home. Smeagol wondered what they were up to. Peeking a little further out to get a better look, he could see them doing something to the big pointy tree to the left of the cavern. They seemed to be...hanging things on it!!! "stupid Hobbitses" he muttered under his breath. "Nice food, yes,. but they wastes it, they ruins it!" Grumbling he crawled deeper back into his cave, so as not to be seen or disturbed further. Sam and Rosie had decided to take the children out to enjoy the new fallen snow.

Of course fresh snow always gave them holiday ideas as it rarely fell in the Shire. While the children were playing in the drifts, they got a neat idea. "Let's decorate a tree!!" they squealed with delight at their parents. "That tree! the one by the river's edge!!" Now Sam knew who lived by the rivers edge, and though he had never liked the idea, he allowed it!! For Gollum had been very crucial in the destruction of the ring, whether by intention or not, and he had been left so helpless after the quest was completed. It seemed that when the ring had been destroyed, so had been Gollum. For Gollum was just...no more. All that remained was Smeagol, and he was nothing but a frightened, pathetic little creature. Sam knew when he had moved closer to the Shire, and he knew when he had made his home in that little burrow (or cavern as Smeagol referred to it), for Sam had kept an eye on many things following the quest. Sam saw very little to concern himself with regarding decorating that tree, so he gave his permission and the family went back to their Hobbit hole to fetch the neccesary supplies for the task at hand.

Excitedly, the tiny hobbits ran towards the tree shrieking in merriment as they went, their parents strolling behind them not aware that they had awakened the resident of the burrow. Sam arrived and began emptying the basket of decorations for the children to hang on the tree...popcorn strings, candy sticks, shiny rocks and shells (which Uncle Frodo had sent back to them from valinor) and anything else pretty they could find. Once the tree was complete they stepped back to admire their handiwork and very impressive it was indeed!!!

The wind began to blow harder again, and Sam could see that they were in for another snowfall, so the time had come for them to head home. It was quiet, except for the sound of the storm approaching. Smeagol knew the hobbitses had finally left, and though he was thankful, he also missed them. Once again he was alone. He took a peek out of his cavern to see what the hobbitses had done to his lovely pointy tree, and what he saw...he was astonished. For it was...beautiful!! There were glittery shiny things hanging on all of its branches. There were strands of pop-corn draped up and down the entire tree...Smeagol liked popcorn..he would have to eat that before it snowed too badly. And underneath..there were...packages? Wrapped in pretty paper. Well, his curiosity was aroused...he had to go and investigate this. Over he crawled to get a closer look..and to eat the pop-corn...and alll those packages under that tree had his name written on them. Smeagol!!! They were all for him!!! They smelled delicious whatever they were. The wind blew in and along came the snow...looked to be a nasty winter storm this time, likely to snow everyone in the shire (and around it) into their homes for quite a while. Smeagol grabbed the gifts (it took about 4 trips to get them all ) and the rest of the pop-corn and candy from the tree, and scurried into his cavern. Tucking himself as far into the back as he could so he would be warm for the duration of the storm, he eyed the packages. Memories came back to him one more time, and a tear trickled down from his eye. For in those packages was everything he would need to survive one more winter, and this was going to be the worst winter in the history of the Shire. For if not for those packages, Smeagol would not have made it that year. The food was scarce and the temperatures cold. But Smeagol was warm and fed in the back of his cavern, and during that winter mysterious packages would arrive outside his hole. Smeagol was cared for once more...he was no longer alone!!

! Fin


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